Case T-227/21: Judgment of the General Court of 13 July 2022 — Illumina v Commission (Competition — Concentrations — Pharmaceutical industry market — Article 22 of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 — Referral request from a competition authority not having jurisdiction under national law to examine the concentration — Commission decision to examine the concentration — Commission decisions accepting requests from other national competition authorities to join the referral request — Competence of the Commission — Time limit for submitting the referral request — Concept of ‘made known’ — Reasonable time — Legitimate expectations — Public statements by the Vice-President of the Commission — Legal certainty)
Date: 2022-07-13
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: competition policy, economic concentration, merger control, pharmaceutical industry, powers of the institutions (EU), principle of legal certainty








C_2022359EN.01006602.xml










19.9.2022   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 359/66






Judgment of the General Court of 13 July 2022 — Illumina v Commission
(Case T-227/21) (1)

(Competition - Concentrations - Pharmaceutical industry market - Article 22 of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 - Referral request from a competition authority not having jurisdiction under national law to examine the concentration - Commission decision to examine the concentration - Commission decisions accepting requests from other national competition authorities to join the referral request - Competence of the Commission - Time limit for submitting the referral request - Concept of ‘made known’ - Reasonable time - Legitimate expectations - Public statements by the Vice-President of the Commission - Legal certainty)
(2022/C 359/80)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: Illumina, Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware, United States) (represented by: D. Beard, Barrister, and P. Chappatte, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: N. Khan, G. Conte and C. Urraca Caviedes, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Grail LLC, formerly Grail, Inc. (Menlo Park, California, United States) (represented by: D. Little, Solicitor, J. Ruiz Calzado, J.M. Jiménez-Laiglesia Oñate and A. Giraud, lawyers)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: K. Boskovits, acting as Agent), French Republic (represented by: T. Stéhelin, P. Dodeller, J.-L. Carré and E. Leclerc, acting as Agents), Kingdom of the Netherlands (represented by: M. Bulterman and P. Huurnink, acting as Agents), EFTA Surveillance Authority (represented by: C. Simpson, M. Sánchez Rydelski and M.-M. Joséphidès, acting as Agents)

Re:

Application under Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment, first, of Commission Decision C(2021) 2847 final of 19 April 2021, accepting the request of the Autorité de la concurrence française (French Competition Authority) to examine the concentration relating to the acquisition by Illumina, Inc. of sole control over Grail, Inc. (Case COMP/M.10188 — Illumina/Grail), second, of Commission Decisions C(2021) 2848 final, C(2021) 2849 final, C(2021) 2851 final, C(2021) 2854 final and C(2021) 2855 final of 19 April 2021, accepting the requests of the Greek, Belgian, Norwegian, Icelandic and Dutch competition authorities to join that referral request, and third, of the Commission's letter of 11 March 2021 informing Illumina and Grail of that referral request.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders Illumina, Inc. to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;










3.


Orders the Hellenic Republic, the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the EFTA Surveillance Authority and Grail LLC to bear their own costs.






(1)  OJ C 252, 28.6.2021.